Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Hello LOSTIES! Welcome to Blog 4 of Season 3! Exciting stuff. Hopefully it'll be a little more exciting than the episode! For all of the hard hitting violence, romantic plot movement, and big reveals...why was I left unimpressed with this episode? I dunno, maybe I just haven't had time to digest it yet. Maybe because there are still too many story lines hanging out there unresolved. While I do have faith that they will resolve it, why am I getting the feeling that the writers definitely knew what they wanted accomplished in the 1st 6 episodes, so they were willing to stretch some story lines to fit it? (AKA - Jack, Kate and Sawyer's imprisonment). Not sure if I'm as excited about the 6 episode "pod" of episodes anymore, if it gives them imaginary writing constraints to have logical setups and conclusions. But, as always I will keep my blind faith in the producers that they know where they are going with these stories. While I was disappointed, there was still a heck of a lot of interesting things that happened, and tons of stuff to discuss!

First of all, we need to RE-HASH last week's episode. In the blog, I discussed a lot of "Time Travel" theories jokingly as explanation to why Desmond could see the future and Eko was telling Locke about his mission, and couldn't find a reasonable LOGICAL explanation of it all. Well in the comments, we got to discussing it a bit. There was the key little missing piece of information I forgot that Locke, Desmond and Eko were missing for 1 day! Well what on earth happened in that day? For all we know they could've been taken in by the others and brainwashed or fed some information. I mean, we didn't even discuss why Eko was in the Cave with the polar bears! There's a whole day missing in the lives of these 3 people, and we need some explanations! I just can't buy into the fact that Desmond can actually see the future! We will need this information as we explore last night's episode. Also the "MISSING DAY" piece will come into play as we discuss Jack, Kate and Sawyer and their Venture to "ISLAND #2." And, remember Henry had told Locke that his whole reason for coming to the hatch was to get Locke and bring him back. If we still believe that is true, he may be testing Locke with this "Rescue Mission" and Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are the bait. Guess we have to keep waiting to see!

With that said, let's move on! As always, check out lost.abc.com for recaps, Lost goodies, and if you want to watch the episode again on your computer!

This week's episode featured a Sawyer flashback, movement of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer captivity saga, and we shared a couple scenes with our very own island "MISS CLEO," Desmond and his crazy premonitions.

Jack To the "Rescue"

So, this week Jack is pulled to the operating table again in a failing attempt to save Colleen (2 Deadwood cast member sightings this week on Lost!), or Danny aka Pickett's wife. Here's some things to point out:

Jack stirs the pot a bit with Juliet very similarly to how Henry questioned why Locke let Jack push him around. Jack questioned why Juliet takes orders from Henry. Juliet was visibly angered as Henry came in bossing her around. Some rumors flying around that Juliet and Henry might not be ex-lovers at all....and in fact, they might be SIBLINGS....and even further than that...TWIN siblings. There's always rumors flying rampant about twins on LOST, so this rumor really isn't far-fetched. May not even be far-fetched by saying they were island born descendants of the Degroots. But I can't take credit if this theory comes into fruition. You can read the TV Watch from entertainment weekly and read for yourself!

Jack was forced to watch cartoons during his continued imprisonment. Don't know if there was any significance to the actual cartoon showing, but am I mistaken or was that the Disney's "Ugly Duckling" cartoon? I dunno...haven't seen it in ages, but it reminded me of it. Just thought I'd share that useless knowledge.

Jack heard Sawyer screaming on the intercom. He thought he had heard his DAD saying something in the intercom in the season premiere (his "DEAD" Dad). Juliet told Jack the intercom doesn't work....well we know for sure that Sawyer was screaming, so what gives??? I guess there is always the question...is Jack's Dad really dead? We saw the corpse! And the producers say he's dead! Dead or not...I think there has to be some involvement of Christian with the island activities PRE-CRASH.

When trying to save Colleen we find out that the Paddles are busted and Juliet says they've never really had to revive anyone before. Is this indication that the others are a peaceful breed? With Ethan going on a Killing spree in season 1, I'd hardly think so.

We learn that Juliet is a Fertility Doctor. Anyone want to place bets that this will come into play in determining the father of Sun's child?

Henry shows more of his evil side by letting Jack sit handcuffed with the recently deceased Colleen for awhile until Juliet comes to the rescue.

Okay, really only one other thing to touch on with Jack's storyline is the X-Ray. As Jack stated it looks like a man in their 40's has a very large tumor on his vertebrae. So, we can assume that Jack is here to save whoever it is. The question is, WHO does he need to save? The obvious choice would be Ben, but I think that seems too obvious, especially since they lead us to believe that from the previews. Maybe Jack THINKS it's supposed to be Ben. So who else is in their 40's on the island? My immediate thought other then Henry was LOCKE. But Locke is older than in his 40's. Unless, the X-rays are not current, and the others snagged those puppies up from awhile ago. So there has to be more to explore here. But we have to assume that there was more of a reason to bring Jack in than to just perform Surgery, right? What else does Ben need him to do before he sends him home?

Sawyer FlashbackSo Sawyer did time for the LONG CON. Looks like Cassidy (Other deadwood sighting!) had him put away for what he did to her in the last flashback we saw. (Ran away with her 600,000 dollars I believe?) Sawyer was able to con his way out of Jail by helping the US Treasury in retrieving $10 Million from Munsen (another Con-man locked away for the same reasons). Here's some tidbits we learned:

From the ID Badge for the Prison, we determine that Sawyer was imprisoned in Florida. Remember when he told Jack he had been to Tallahassee? Is that where the long Con took place?

Apparently Sawyer has some boxing skills and threw a nice set of punches in prison.

Sawyer got a nice commission out of his helping the US Treasury. That was kinda bizarre. Wouldn't you think that his Get out of Jail Free ticket would be enough?

Apparently Sawyer has a daughter, Clementine, from his relationship with Cassidy. And in an un-"sawyer"like move, he had his entire commission set up in an account in Albuquerque (spelled good enough!) for Clementine with no ability to trace it back to him. Very noble of him. But here's the thing, Sawyer spent a long time teaching Cassidy how to pull of the LONG CON. Maybe she was conning HIM all along? Depends how much that Commission was!

Sawyer and the Pacemakers

Great name for a Band isn't it? Well, I gotta tell you. It was really hard for me to buy into the fact that they actually had planted a Pacemaker into Sawyer to control his rage. It just seemed too much like a mental game right from the start to me. I just couldn't see Sawyer having to control his heart rate for the remainder of his life on Lost Island. I'll be the first to admit though, I have no idea how easy it is to install or remove a pacemaker! So maybe it's my ignorance that led me to know it was a GAME! Anyway, it led to some nice dramatic scenes with Kate (whom he wasn't allowed to tell about the pacemaker or else she'd get a matching one) and the big reveal at the end.

Sawyer has to control his emotions in an array of different ways, watching Kate get dressed (loved the heart rate monitor!), getting beaten to a bloody pulp by Pickett who was taking his anger on him for Colleen's death, and even some nice mountain climbing action!

Henry also got in on the fun of beating up Sawyer who outsmarted him with the Electric Shock POLAR BEAR button. Henry had some crazy strength that he was using in his beating. Reminded me of Ethan's strength in season 1 when he just kept bouncing back from several hard punches from Jack.

Kate finally tells Sawyer that she loves him, but takes it right back. Is this due to Sawyer's post-pacemaker attitude? Or is it because she really prefers Jack? Well, based on some subliminal messaging....it would seem she's leaning towards Jack. After Kate finds a way to escape her cage, and then she gets back in the cage...Sawyer states his motto "Every Man for Himself" Kate quickly retorts with Jack's famous line from his Season 1 speech "Live Together Die Alone." ZING! That's gotta hurt Mr. Ford! The love saga to continue another day...

Kate and Sawyer get their first Glimpse of Jack as he's being moved (blindfolded) to the Operating Room. They were able to drown out Kate and Sawyer's screams with a deafening sound.

Okay, before we get into the big reveal can I just say how much I loved the interaction between Henry and Sawyer? The whole Of Mice and Men bit was fantastic. And of course Ben's "You're good Sawyer. But We're Better" line was stupendous. Of course he was referencing to conning a con-man. The question is....is the CON still on?

And that's our beautiful segueway into the big reveal. Oh yes, Apparently these guys are not even on the same island they crashed on anymore!

But I'm not totally convinced that's true yet. Sure we've been talking about this mysterious POWER CABLE that just seemed to go into the middle of the Ocean, and the Shark with the DHARMA Logo that Michael and Sawyer saw off the coast of the Survivor's camp. But we never saw an ISLAND just sitting out there! Is it possible that the island was always there but just out of view from the survivor's? Even from the Tailies camp? The only thing I could come up with (and the TV Watch person shared with me) was that apparently this Alcatraz*2 island is cloaked somehow where you can't see it from the other island? What else ties in here? Well, let's recall how Desmond tried to sail away from the island and ended up right back AT the island (he called it a "bloody snooo globe!" like my Scottish accent?) And if we go back a couple episodes in this season Juliet made a comment "Who cares if they have a sailboat, they're just going to sail around in circles!" And of course, all the references that the island cannot be detected by the outside world. WHERE IS THIS ISLAND??? So it works both ways? you can't see in OR out from the island? Then how did Henry show Sawyer the island?

More questions....how on earth did they move Kate, Sawyer and Jack to this 2nd island without them knowing it? Again, we're missing a day when they were brought to this imprisonment. We did see them at a DOCK. And we have heard references of this "Ferry" from the Pearl station (which we see in previews for next week). But unless the 3 heroes were unconscious..how would they not have known they were put on a boat and taken to another island? Oh right....did Juliet mention that a SUB was back in this episode too? Okay, so they have a submarine now? Same questions! And where is the OTHER's camp? (you know SuburbanOthersville?)....it looked like that WAS on the same island. We also had Ethan and Goodwyn RUNNING to the crash sites.....So do the others live in a different place than the Hydra station Island? Or are we still on the same island? I know I know....you come here looking for answers.....but we always leave just asking more questions!

And I always answer it with...I guess we'll find out eventually!

Desmond and the PremonitionsAlrighty, so on to Desmond and him saying he could fix Claire's Roof and Charlie saying he's "HANDY" in his crazy accent. Desmond once again reveals to the survivors that he is seeing things before they happen and that he prevented lighting from striking Claire's "tent" by creating a lighting rod with a golf club. And we continue to ask...HOW is he doing that???

Well this is a little more problematic than him knowing about Locke's speech. The speech could've been part of a brainwashing or a pre-planned session where Desmond and Eko knew about the speech and just had to tell people about it. Now we're talking about knowing when lightning is going to strike an exact spot. Well, remember when Locke predicted when it was going to rain in season 1? What was that all about? It's like he had found some system to when it was going to rain. And well....back to the theory that the Island is in some controlled environment....can they dictate when it's going to rain and also pinpoint exactly where they want lightning to strike? That would seem a little odd. But little by little...the survivors are believing that Desmond can see the future. However this is possible, I'm sure will eventually be explained.

Oh and we saw more of Paulo. Today he was golfing into the ocean. I just don't understand why they need these additional characters as part of the survivors yet. I have heard rumors that Paulo might be a potential love interest for Claire creating a bit of a Love Triangle. But isn't he with the other girl, Nikki? Weird...

Okay, that's all I got. Feel free to share your thoughts as well. We got into some good discussion last week! That was always my dream for this blog! If not, just keep on reading. See you next week when we begin to realize that EVERYTHING WE EVER THOUGHT ABOUT LOST WILL CHANGE FOREVER! Thanks ABC for your crazy over dramatic promos!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Hello Time Traveling Losties welcome to the blog that knows all that happens before it happens! Oh my bad...that's our resident "Island Merlin," Desmond! But we're way ahead of ourselves! But that was one crazy episode wasn't it? That hatch messed those kids up!

Anyways, here we are for another edition of the Lost Blog. I apologize for not providing the link in my email last week. But seriously everyone, have you not bookmarked this page yet? lostaddicts208.blogspot.com. If not, just hit Ctrl-D right now! Ahhh there we go...all bookmarked now! If you don't trust your bookmarks, then just memorize it! And if all of that fails, then keep on trusting that I'll throw a link in an email that someone will ultimately be forwarded your way!As always check out lost.abc.com for Episode Recaps and to rewatch the episode.

Let's dive in! So we finally get back to Island life for the rest of our core survivors, which was a relief for most viewers. But we mainly focus on our Hatch-Implosion survivors, and even more specifically focused on Mr. John Locke. We dig more into his Pre-Island life as well as his communication with the Island in his pursuit to rescue Mr. Eko.

Locke's Journey

Locke FlashbackIn Locke's flashback we didn't learn what we thought we would learn (i.e. the incident that lead to his paralysis), but we did get some good dirt on John Locke. And we met a slew of new characters to his backstory. This flashback takes place in California sometime after Locke has been betrayed by his father and after Helen left him (I think!).

We meet Eddie, who seems to be a hitchhiker but ends up being an undercover cop.

We meet Mike and Jan, head of the Pot Farm foundation who have taken Locke in when everyone else had deserted him.

We learn Locke had a licence for multiple firearms. There are inconsistencies between his Driver's Licence (which has a bald picture of Locke on it and a different birthdate) and the firearms licence. This could be a prop error. But I'll throw the picture in here for speculation. Click on image to expand.

John asks Eddie at Gunpoint if he was chosen and why. Eddie tells him that his psych profile said he would be amenable for coercion. Eddie goes on to tell Locke "You're not going to shoot me, you're not a murderer. You're a good man, you're a farmer" Locke insists that he is a hunter, which is a theme throughout the episode. Something interesting to note. Colleen made a very similar when Sun held her at gunpoint last week. "you're not going to shoot me, you don't have murder in you" While John didn't shoot Eddie, Sun DID shoot Colleen. Many have speculated that Sun, in fact, pushed JAE (Baldy #2) over the edge after Jin left the hotel. Is there any relevance to these comments being in back-to-back episodes? Also, is Eddie with the OTHERs too?Keep a look out for more with the characters we met in Locke's flashback. Mike, Jan, and the crazy Guard guy with the Mullet. I don't think we've seen any of them anywhere else yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we do!

Locke's Vision (Talk with the Island)

We open up with Locke lying on the ground, teasing us with the idea that he may be unable to walk again. Instead, he is unable to TALK instead. He sees Desmond running naked in the Jungle and is unable to say anything. And eventually encounters Charlie who is enjoying every minute of Locke's new disability and need for help. We learn that Charlie has not forgiven Locke for punching him in the face several times when he suspected him of "using" again. But Regardless Locke recruits Charlie to help him talk to the island to find out his next mission. Now that the Hatch is gone, John needs a new purpose! Crazy Locke went ahead and created his own sweat lodge near the unfinished Church and asked Charlie to stand guard.

It looks like what Locke was concocting was the same Drug that he put in Boone's cut in season 1 that had Boone hallucinate and see Shannon die. Locke ingested the drug this time (much to Charlie's anger for his hypocritical conduct) and had a vision of his own. Before we get into the vision, can we assume that Locke has learned how to create this drug from his employment on the POT Farm? And how did he originally know that this would induce visions from the Island that would instruct him on his mission? And of course...HOW are these visions happening is always a recurring question!

The running tally of visions/dreams is:

Locke - Sees Nigerian Plane, Sees Eko's Brother, Sees Boone and all survivors in the current standings (this episode), OTHER? (He had to have known he could induce visions before doing it to Boone)

Boone - Sees Shannon mauled by a polar bear

Charlie - Crazy Sleepwalking nightmares urging to have Aaron baptized

Hurley - Dream with Jin speaking English and Walt missing, also his visions of DAVE)

Eko - Sees Ana Lucia Die and his Brother tell him to get John to lead him to the question mark

Jack - Sees his dad then finds empty coffin

Kate - Questionable with the horse since she pet it

Sawyer - The boar attacking him (was that a vision or did that actually happen? i think that happened)

Shannon - Sees Walt

Sayid - Sees Walt

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is a topic that they're using over and over for a reason! We need to know where these visions are coming from! And if the island is inducing them, WHO is doing it and HOW?

Back to this week's vision, Locke gets a visit from Boone. Was nice to see him again, however creepy he was in this episode. Locke tries to apologize to Boone but still cannot talk, Boone tells him he forgives him and that he will regain his voice when he has something to say. (still don't get the symbolism of him losing his voice, anyone out there???). Boone escorts Locke to his Wheelchair and they are whisked away to an airport that shows all of our survivors in the groups that they are currently with. I thought this scene was outstanding, by the way! Boone says someone in airport is in danger:

Claire, Charlie and Aaron - Boone "Not them, they'll be alright, for awhile" The "For Awhile" is intriguing. Looks like they haven't given up their quest for baby Aaron yet. And they may have some interest in the other 2 as well.

Sun and Jin fighting and Sayid with them - Boone: "I think Sayid's got it" Wasn't sure if they were addressing the fact that all is not HAPPY in the world of Sun and Jin.

Kate and Sawyer flirting, Jack a bit ahead of them at the metal detector getting wanded by Henry - Boone "There's nothing you can do for them. Not Yet" (TSA initials on Henry's shirt, no idea if it's important) "First you have to clean up your own mess"

John follows Boone up the escalator (symbolic of Boone climbing up into the plane to his ultimate doom?) We see Eko's bloody Jesus Stick and a Bloody Boone requests John to clean it up!" Locke wakes up in his Sweat Lodge and sees a vision of Polar Bear as he leaves crazy hut. And at this time he is able to talk again. Again, I'm not sure the significance of his inability to talk immediately after the hatch implosion.

The EKO Rescue

Okay, I got a little detailed in the Vision because it was pretty darn detailed. I can sum up the rest of the journey. Locke uses his tracking/HUNTING skills to find Eko and brings Charlie along for the ride. Here's some tidbits:

Since Charlie has had visions too, does he believe Locke has actually had a vision of Boone and has to follow his mission?

Loved the scene where they're being chased by the Polar Bear and then Locke throws a knife at Hurley. "DUUUUDE!" Their encounter with Hurley here sets up another great addition to the LOST Mythology that we'll get to in a bit.

In the beginning of the episode Locke sees Eko's stick. It has a new inscription on it for Genesis 13:14 "Lift up your eyes and Look North" The actual passage reads "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward" Perhaps this is an indication to John to go North to rescue the other friends when the time comes? Perhaps it's nothing!

In the Cave, we see a skull with a cloth/shirt near it. It has a Dharma Logo on it. We also see a TONKA Truck. hmmm....does our polar bear like toys? Or maybe it's a reference to all of the children that have been kidnapped on the island? The Tonka truck was relatively old too....like 80's style. Just another indication that there have been many residents of this island before Flight 815 crashed there.

After Locke rescues Eko (with the Macgyver Flaming Hairspray) Locke apologizes to Eko for doubting him while he should've been out helping Jack, Kate, Sawyer and crew. Still looking for purpose in his life, he was convinced he could've SAVED them. Eko, who appeared to be unconscious begins talking to John "You can still protect them, you can still save them. You will find them. Afterall, you are a hunter John. " Charlie returns, and Eko remains to still be unconscious. One thing is for sure, Locke, Eko, and Desmond are all acting very strangely following the implosion of the Hatch. We just don't have enough information yet to know WHY!

Speaking of the hatch, we do get to see a hole in the ground where the hatch was. And nothing seems to be remaining from the Hatch except the 3 people that were in there. And one of them lost his clothes too!

Hurley, Desmond and the Island Reunion

BRILLIANT SEGUE WAY! Ahhh was Hurley missed big time in the first 2 episodes. He always seems to be the voice of the audience. And we even got a bit of the Charlie/Hurley comic relief Duo in this episode when Hurley learns about the Polar Bear and Locke's mission to find Eko and Chase the bears. On Hurley's journey back to the camp to tell everyone about the "kidnapping" he runs into a Scottish fella looking for some clothes!

Of course before Hurley realizes it is Desmond he calls out "Bear, is that you?" FANTASTIC!

So Desmond loses his clothes in the Hatch implosion and is the only one to lose them. He also was underground turning that fail-safe key. What exactly happened to him? We'll touch on that in a bit.

Love how Hurley continues to be a voice of the people who watched a whole season of pushing a button only to learn that they could stop it all with a Fail-safe Key. Convenient isn't it? The solution? Desmond just says he didn't know what would happen. But what DID happen? "Must've detonated the electromagnetic anomaly, made the hatch implode."

We learn that Desmond missed seeing the purple sky or feeling the island vibrate. Was he even around to experience that???

When Hurley begins to complain about going after their friends, Desmond quickly tells Hurley "Locke is going to go after them, he said so in his speech!" hmmmmm what speech?

Oh the speech that didn't even happen yet? Yep, that would be the one. Once everyone returns to the camp, everyone finds out Eko is injured and that Jack, Sawyer, and Kate are captured, which Hurley conveniently forgot to tell everyone. While Desmond throws rocks into the ocean Locke launches into a motivational speech:

"I'm going to find our friends. I don't know how. We're going to find them and we're going to bring them home."

Well, this naturally is the big mystery that will be boggling our minds for some time into the future. Did Desmond have a vision of the future? Did he actually VISIT the future?

There were speculations on the Internet (albeit, joking speculations) that maybe he is traveling through time like the Terminator did in the James Cameron flicks. They couldn't travel through time with their clothes on either! I'll stick with the notion that something ELSE is up.

But it brings up some valid questions about TIME in relation to the island. Like, is TIME on the island moving at the same pace as TIME OFF of the island? For instance, if it is November 2004 on the island, is it October 2006 OFF of the island? The producers have hinted in the podcast that this COULD be the case, but you can never tell if they're pulling our chain or not. But the producers have also explained that they have written WALT's aging process into the show. (since he was like 10 when the show started...he's going to be like 13 when he returns! but only 2 months and change have passed!).

Also, Henry says he's been on the island his whole life. We can assume he's in his 40's, right? Doesn't that Pre-Date the DHARMA Initiative by 10-15 years? There are people that lived on this island prior to DHARMA, maybe prior to the others. What about that crazy GIANT FOOT that we saw in the finale?

Hmm...how did I get to talking about feet? Oh, right, TIME TRAVEL. Well, I don't think we're going to be jumping into the world of NBC's Heroes and bending the space-time continuum just yet. The producers have also said that everything will be able to be realistically explained and in an UN-Supernatural way.

I'm still enjoying the ride for now!

Also NEW CASTMEMBER ALERT! Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro) and Nikki (Kylie Sanchez) are recurring castmembers this year and showed up at the very end of the episode. I guess we're meant to believe they were survivors of the crash all along.

Whew, long blog again! Sorry about that....hope I didn't lose anyone along the way! Thus, we close the books on the continuing cultural phenomenon (known as this blog!). One day I would love to know how many people are actually reading this thing! It is my dream that every reader will one day decide to post a comment and say "Hi Mike, I READ THIS BLOG! now stop making me feel guilty for not commenting and let me enjoy the show you freak!" Ahhh yes....music to my ears! Ok, in all seriousness, 3 episodes left this fall. 3 Recaps to go! Catch you next week sometime!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Hello fellow LOST addicts! Welcome to the LOST BLOG VERSION 2.0! You like? I wanted to have it done by the start of the season, but I got lazy. Anyways, here it is and it's totally cool! We've become quite a sophisticated establishment here over the past year. Starting with simple emails that got forwarded around work and to a few friends of friends...all the way to this website that almost looks official! Now, if only we could get someone to write the blog that knows what he or she is talking about! Instead, you'll just have to keep on enduring my relentless ramblings!

So onto "The Glass Ballerina." Again, we continue to slowly unfold season 3 and resolve more cliffhangers from the end of season 2 and setting the stage for this year. What did I think of "Part 2 of 3" of our Season Premiere? Pretty solid episode, albeit, at times boring. But they were able to finally answer some burning questions that we've been anxiously waiting to learn about, as well as present us with a trademark "wow" factor moment in the end. This blog may be a bit shorter for a couple reasons....there's not much to discuss and well it's getting late in the day and I know everyone is anxious to read SOMETHING!

Sun/Jin & Sayid adventures and flashbacks

Seems that the overall theme of this episode revolved around Lies and Deception. Mainly, we follow Sun from early childhood up to the current day and we see her lying. She breaks the Glass Ballerina as a child and lies to her Daddy about it saying the maid did it. Sun fully knows the repercussions of her actions will lead to the maid getting fired yet she still lies. We also finally get our answer to the burning question of if Sun had been unfaithful to her husband in the past (and possibly conceived a child with). The answer is a resounding YES. We still don't know about conceiving the child with LOST Baldy #2 (Locke being #1), but that seems like a safe assumption, even by LOST standards! And if this wasn't enough lies and deceptions, Sun continues to lie to JIN on the island in helping Sayid set a trap for the others. Here's some notes, theories, and questions on this storyline:

This is the first time we're seeing Sun's father since season 1. There were rumors back then that he might be involved with the island activities in some way or even a financial backer. It would seem that the financial backing theories have switched to Charles Widmore based on the season 2 finale.

Jin understands more English than he's led on to believe in the past. This must be a gradual thing because we've still seen him struggling in the past to understand what people are saying. (Sawyer calling him "Daddeo" in season 2 for example) The question is when Jin says he knows Sun deceived him....did he mean on the island? or in the past?

What we do know is that even though Sun's dad sent Jin to kill Jae (baldy) and restore honor to the family, Jin could not do it. We don't know if Jae threw himself out the window holding the Pearls (gift to sun) or if he was forcefully thrown out the window by someone else.

We also know that Sun knew that was what Jin was sent out to do and she let him go do it, just like she let her maid get fired, just like she let Sayid go on with his plan. She knew the repercussions in every instance, but let them happen anyway.

Oh yeah...Sun went ahead and shot Trixie too. Oh, right, her name is Colleen but she's Trixie on Deadwood....that was really confusing for me! That can't be helpful in building future relationships with the others. Especially, since we've seen Danny (known as Pickett from last season) romantically linked to Colleen by their little parting Kiss.

Jae's hotel room was 1516 (the infamous numbers again!)

They may have wanted to wait a bit to have big Sayid and Sun dialogue together until the actors re-familiarized themselves with their characters again. It just seemed like the great big battle of "FAKE ACCENTS" for their big "deception of Jin" talk. I couldn't help but laugh at the whole scene. you could hear Naveen Andrews trying to fight his British accent. Good times.

Guess it's also good to observe that the others did grab the sailboat per henry's orders. so where are Sayid, Jin and Sun going next? To find their friends on foot? or head back? Also, did Henry not know about Desmond's sailboat before then? Did Kelvin not report to them that he was working on it to try and escape? Or was Kelvin not associated with the Others? hmmmmm

Sawyer and Kate (Skater fans Dream!)

Oh yes, I learned in last week's Podcast that there are fans forming separate support groups for Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Kate. And yes, they are respectfully named the JATERS and the SKATERS. Ever since BENNIFER, these naming conventions just won't STOP! Anyway, this week Sawyer and Kate are forced to work together under some intense manual labor with threats to be "SHOCKED" for any communication or slacking off. Lots of things happen in this little storyline.

Sawyer was very flirtatious throughout the whole episode. He was staring at Kate ("Stop staring at my ass", "Give me something else to look at" classic dialogue!) And after he emptied Juliet's canteen...he threw caution to the wind and kissed Kate...causing a big fight to occur. Seems Sawyer had a plan in mind during all of this. While he was enjoying the benefits of getting his dream kiss, he also was able to read his captor's strengths and weaknesses. He mainly thinks that they aren't fighters.....but felt that Juliet meant business.

We see Alex again in this episode! She is still trying to aid the survivors of flight 815 in any way she can. She also confirmed that our boy Carl from last week may not be a PLANT with the others. The producers also confirmed this. He is an "Other" but he is trying to escape. We will learn more about Carl in the weeks to come. We also learn that Kate's new outfit is Alex's dress. bizarre.

What exactly where Sawyer and Kate working on anyway? chopping rocks? for what? It seemed like there was a group of "others" also working with them. too. Are they building something? who knows?

Our buddy Pickett (or Danny) seems to just be a Jerk with a taser. So he's not going to be too pleased to hear that his girl Colleen has been shot, maybe even killed! I know i mentioned it already, but I'm mentioning it again!

As mentioned previously, we see Juliet genuinely trying to be nice again and offer Sawyer the water. But she switched gears when she pulled the gun on Kate. Her intentions are still very unclear. Is she going to help the survivors? Is she trying to get back at Ben/Henry for something? Or is she going to play for both teams for awhile?

Jack in Solitary/Henry enjoying his soaps.

We may have spent about 5-10 minutes with Jack in this episode, but they were the most riveting of the episode! He still is not eating the food provided to him (I think) and is still upset. He had a brief conversation with Juliet in the beginning of the episode but the most rewarding viewing came at the end of the episode. Let's first talk about Henry though.

Yes I'm going to keep switching between Henry, Benry, and Ben. Can you blame me? What else am I supposed to do? Anyway, we saw early in the episode that Ben was in a room with a bunch of TV's very similar to what we saw in the Pearl Station. By the end of the episode we see that he is watching everything that goes on in his Hydra Station....Jack, Sawyer and Kate's discussions, everything. Did he see Alex talking to Kate too? Obviously, he knows that Sawyer was reading his soldiers for weaknesses. How are they going to get out of this little mess they are in?? It seems the Others just have them outsmarted in every way!

Perhaps they'll have to rely on Jack as Henry has started his interrogation of him in a quite pleasing role reversal from last year when Henry was the captive. Henry introduces himself as Benjamen Linus. And that he's been living on the island his whole life.

Ben tells Jack that if he cooperates that they will send Jack home. Jack obviously doesn't believe that Ben has any way to get off the island which leads Benry to rant off what has happened in the 69 days since Flight 815 crashed proving that they have communication with the outside world. GDubbs winning the re-election, Christopher Reeve passed away, Boston Red Sox won the world series. I loved henry's excitement how he explained the improbable scenario of being down 3 games to none against the Yankees then winning 8 straight. And then after Jack laughs in his face, he hits play on the TV and shows the Sox win the series. Fantastic moment. What makes it sweeter? Remember Jack's father used to always use the phrase "That's why the Red Sox will never win the world series." We learn this in season 1 when Jack says it to Sawyer, which reminded Sawyer of his encounter with Christian Shepard. Ahh I love when they link stuff up!

So, does that mean they actually can get off the island? Not exactly. We can't really TRUST Henry, can we? I don't think so. Definitely an unfolding story arc that I'm enjoying! (Just thought of it...also crazy that Colleen knew right away that the woman pointing a gun at her was Sun. It's like they've been thoroughly briefed on ALL of the survivors! crazy)

So we don't know what Henry is going to ask Jack to do, but we can guess it will be to betray his friends. Henry says he will personally take take Jack home if he helps. Something tells me that Jack is not going to betray his fellow survivors. He is their leader, he was unwillingly given that role, but he IS their leader. And he really doesn't have anything to go back to, does he?

Well, that's pretty much the episode in a nutshell. Not really much to delve into. Feel free to add anything I missed. We just are continuing to learn where everyone is and what their current status is based on the crazy finale last season. Next week? We'll catch up with Locke, Eko, Desmond and it appears Charlie and Hurley will return as well! All I've heard is that we shouldn't expect the 3 Hatchlings to come out of the explosion the same as they went in. I'm anxious to see what happens! It looks like Locke was standing up in the previews, so there goes my theory about him being back in a wheelchair due to the magnet being destroyed. But I can confirm that the producers have suggested we may learn WHY he WAS in a wheelchair this season. It's about time!!! I wonder if that will be next week? Not sure who's flashback is up, but it would seem appropriate if it was his.

Alrighty, well hope you enjoyed the write-up. Sorry for the delay, you can expect them to continue being delayed! Crazy Job!!! Don't they know I'm busy?? Have a great rest of the day!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Hello Losties! Welcome Back! It's good to be back, although, like I've already stated a month ago...I'm a bit rusty with the blogging so it may take me awhile to get back into stride. Maybe that is fitting since the producers/writers of Lost are taking us slowly into Season 3. And that's fine with me. My mind can only take a little at a time! Season 2 left us with so many questions and so many hanging storylines. There was only one natural way to kick off the new season. By starting at the beginning again of course! But we'll get to that in a second.

Let me start by saying this. Many are complaining about the amount of commercials that were in the first episode. To this I have 2 things to say!

The episode was just as long as your standard non-extended Lost Episode. They may have had commercials more frequently (I didn't pick up on it), but then there were less commercials during that period.

Time to suck it up and get TiVo! (or any competing DVR...I guess) I started the episode at 9:15pm Eastern Standard Time and caught up to Live TV a few seconds before the last segment of the show aired. In other words...No commercials! The only thing that must be endured is the 15 minutes of anguish...knowing that Lost is on TV and you're waiting to watch it seamlessly! But the end result is a beautiful thing!

Whew...off the soapbox and onto the next! Now there are other rumors flying rampant of people's disappointment with our season premiere. I.E. Lack of Plot movement, Restating what we already know from another point of view, producers are milking the show to extend the # of seasons they can get out of it, blah blah blah. I won't directly address this (well maybe I will at the end) Instead, I'm just going to explain to you how much I LOVED this episode and how much I got out of it. I'm sure I'll convert a few of you along the way. That's just how I roll!

So if you haven't watched the episode yet you know you can always catch the episode at lost.abc.com

Now let's get down to business! As I stated before...we left off in season 2 with many stories up in the air. "A Tale of Two Cities" follows our Heroes Jack, Kate, and Sawyer as they begin their time in captivity of the so-called "others." But first, we get treated to a mirroring opening to season 2 where we focus in on the eye of a new character (Jack in season 1, Desmond in season 2) and then we play a little tune (Petula Clark's "Downtown"...on CD no-less) and we are slowly introduced to a new setting. A setting that will probably come more familiar to us in this 3rd season. Yep, we're finally getting to see some history of the others as the producers have promised us. And we can bet we'll get treated to a lot more flashbacks with the introduction of new characters. I'm rambling....what did we learn in the 5 minute intro with the others?

It seems there is some history between Henry (Well I like Henry more than Ben, so maybe we'll call him BENRY) and Juliet (don't know spelling of that yet). I'm sure we'll explore it more, but Benry was NOT invited to the latest book club session where they were reading a Stephen King Novel. A couple sidenotes here: If you recall when Henry was given a book from Locke by Dostoevsky (not even going to check the spelling of that!), he asked if they had any Stephen King. Well what we learn in that opening scene is that Ben is NOT a fan of Mr. King. The other interesting tidbit is that the actual Stephen King is a huge fan of Lost...he writes about it a lot in his Entertainment Weekly column. And he has recently met with the producers to discuss theories and ideas for the show. Crazy stuff.

We finally see the front end of the plane actually descending to the island. There were questions to if the plane actually ever crashed. And I guess we still didn't see it land yet. But man was that a cool shot of it breaking in half! We can assume that this happened as Desmond did not return in time to push the button. Can we assume that this was all part of Henry's plan? Was Kelvin supposed to draw Dezzy out of the hatch long enough for the magnet to be activated? I'm sure we'll find out eventually!

Benry is convinced that there must be survivors as he sends Ethan and Goodwyn on their assignments. One of the biggest mysteries still out there is...how on earth were there survivors? Henry was more convinced that there would be survivors of the front end of the crash. Significant? Who knows....I thought it was worth noting!

Oh yeah...how about the nice little Pleasantville townhouse community the Others are residing in? Not much to say about this quite yet, except that they seem awfully civilized. The questions are how did this community get there...and if they have contact with the outside world? Information from tonight's episode would suggest they do. But with LOST, nothing is EVER as it seems!

We supposedly figure out how they learned everyone's names. Ethan and Goodwyn made lists of all of the survivors and brought them back to Henry. I guess we could've figured that out, but I like when they dumb it down and actually show me it!

In summary, wonderful way to open us up into Season 3. Fantastic! I loved it! That would've been enough to hold me over until January! But we still got much more with the episode and we'll dig into that now! I guess the best way to do this is by Character since we followed 3 different imprisonments. As preston and steve pointed out when the police are questioning 3 prisoners they could give one person the Hard line, one the Soft Line, and treat one with a Good Cop/Bad Cop mentality. Well that's exactly what we see here. The Others don't waste any time messing with our favorite love trio:

Kate

Kate was treated to the finest the island had to offer.

She got a non-sulfur smelling shower (step up from the hatch),

She got to play dress-up for Benry, and then she got to have a breakfast feast with him, handcuffed of course.

All of this, as Henry suggested, was to build her up before they break her down, in which Henry said the next "2 Weeks" are going to be hell. 2 Weeks in Lost-Time is usually more than 6 episodes (which encapsulates our Fall "Pod"). So, let's say they don't get rescued, or even escape on their own.....are we to expect that the others RELEASE them after 2 weeks? Welcome them into their community? Something else? Or is Henry STILL playing games by even suggesting 2 weeks? ahhh good times.

Henry also decided to meddle into the affairs of Kate, Sawyer, and Jack by suggesting to Kate that she must feel for Sawyer more than Jack because she asked about him first. We've already been told by the producers that Kate will finally make her decision. The consensus has been that she'll initially fall for Sawyer...but then end up with Jack in the long run. I think Jack is going to be a little too pre-occupied falling for an "OTHER."

We don't see much else of Kate in this episode until she rejoins Sawyer, which we'll get to in his section. But she looked like she went through some kind of torturing....and was scratched up pretty good. Remember how Season 2 unfolded in the beginning? We kept revisiting the same period of time over and over through the first 3 episodes to see experiences from different points of view. I'm guessing we will revisit what happened to Kate while Jack was pulling on the chains in the 3 Amigos Underwater Prison (more on that in a bit), and Sawyer was moving slower than a Polar Bear!

And this is as good a point as any to point out that all 3 of our captives were injected with SOMETHING.....it obviously was affecting Jack. Didn't notice the effects as much on Kate and Sawyer. Was this the same goo they injected into Michael when he visited the "PRETEND" camp? Was it nothing? Maybe just another mind game? I'm sure we'll find out.

Sawyer

Leave it to Sawyer to provide us with some comic relief throughout the episode. Sawyer was definitely given the ROUGH treatment out of the 3 of them....put in a cage like an animal and pushing crazy buttons. He was accompanied by a silent man, eventually we find to be named Carl (or Karl). I believe most people are under the assumption that Carl is bait for Sawyer...part of the experiment and enlisted with the Others. We've made assumptions like this before, and they usually turn out to be incorrect! (Ana Lucia pretending to be captured by the others when they were all tailies, thinking Eko was Rose's Husband, I could keep going!) But for now, I'm going with the consensus. Who would this guy be otherwise? Maybe he was someone grabbed from the tail section that we never met? Doubt it.... but who knows. So what happened in the Sawyer Storyline?

We are reminded of many things we saw in the Dharma Swan orientation video with the Zoological Research. Our buddy Tom (aka Zeke or "Mr. Friendly") suggests to Sawyer that Bears resided in the Cage before Sawyer and that they were able to figure out how to get the Dharma fish biscuits quicker than Sawyer. Well, when you hear BEAR in Tropical LOSTland...you immediately think Polar Bears! So Case closed on that one? Not quite. Why on earth did they keep Polar bears in that habitat...and how did they get them there?

It's amazing how little a peon Tom has been reduced to since Henry has emerged as the leader of the others..... From the season finale of season 1...we thought this guy was the big cheese.....now he's just some goon that is doing all of Henry's dirty work. Crazy stuff.

Preston and Steve suggested that the way Sawyer was drug into his prison was a homage to a scene from Planet of the Apes. I wouldn't doubt it, but I didn't pick up on it. Just thought I'd mention it for all you movie buffs out there.

Most of the episode Sawyer was either trying to talk to Carl and escape (which failed miserably and ended up getting shocked by Juliet with the crazy taser gun, or he was pushing the Food Button and getting shocked in the process.

But of course...then Kate comes all battle wounded and is put in Carl's cage. And Sawyer being the gentlemen that he is offers Kate the Fish biscuit that he fought so hard for. This combined with Kate saying Sawyer's name before Jack is a recipe for LOVE in the land of Lost. More on this next week!

Jack

So as we are learning will be a tradition, we kick-off our seasons getting more background on our hero, Dr. Jack Shepard. And apparently the others are a step ahead of the audience on this one! But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Jack was definitely getting some Good Cop/Bad Cop treatment in the Underwater Hatch that we learn is named Hydra! Let's start off with that!

Not sure if anyone will remember way back when Michael and Sawyer were floating back to the island after the raft was blown up, they were attacked by a shark. Now, this was pre-mike blogs so you may have not done your research and discovered that there was a DHARMA logo on this Shark. And we knew there was a different symbol on it back then than the swan, but we didn't know what that meant. Slowly but surely, everyone determined there must be an underwater hatch somewhere. And Lost Fans have been dying to know when we'd find out about it. Well...stop wondering! We're there now! Now think further back to season 1.... Remember when Sayid went exploring the perimeter of the island until he ran into a cable and followed it to Rousseau's bunker? You remember how that power cable also went directly into the water too? Could that cable lead to the Underwater Hatch? Does that mean they're not TOO far from the Fuselage Survivor's Camp? Or is the underwater hatch located closer to SuburbianOthersville? Just things to keep in mind.

Anyways....we can probably sum up Jack's flashbacks pretty quickly (when do I ever actually mean that? lol). Jack was going through the proceedings of divorce with Sarah and had finally come to terms with giving Sarah everything....all he wanted was the name of his replacement. Jack eventually grew to think his DAD was the man that Sarah went to. I believe I even suggested that back in the episode when Christian and Ana Lucia were down in Australia together and he called her "Sarah." While I think there is still more to the story than we saw....we find out that Jack's deliriousness drove his father from being 40 days sober to drinking again. And probably what ultimately led to him drinking on the job where he killed a patient, and then drinking himself to death in Australia. If you dig all the way back to season 1, Jack's Mom sent him to Australia to find his father. Jack's Mother blamed Jack for his father's drunken condition. Well...I think we know why now! One big mess. So what WAS Sarah's involvement with Christian? Why was she calling him? I guess we can assume that she was still concerned for his alcoholism and was trying to help him. But, like I said...I think there is more to tell here.

Side notes:

- Jack was listening to Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serende when he was in his car stalking Sarah. Sayid and Hurley caught this song on radio frequencies on the island as well. And we all know Glenn died in a plane crash.)- Apparently Tom (Zeke) was in Jack's flashback as a patient. I saw the picture, but am having trouble getting to the site right now. I don't think it looks like him:

The flashbacks coincided perfectly with the interrogation of Jack in his underwater prison. They coincided SO perfectly, I almost got the impression that whatever they drugged him with was making him relive those memories right then as we were seeing them. Jack tackling his father happened simultaneously to Jack tackling Juliet when she opened the door. But I'm just speculating here.

And how about the intercom? It clearly sounded like we heard Christian saying "Let it Go Jack" through the intercom....something we just heard him say in the flashback. There are several theories here that we could explore. It could be, just as Juliet said, all in his head, the intercom doesn't work. Or they could be messing with him even more, and somehow they have a soundclip from that day. That's just strange....but you know what else is strange?

How on earth did they get all of that information about Jack? We can assume they have that much information on ALL of our survivors. I read that some people are suggesting they have internet access. I don't know if I'd go that far. But they have so much information on Jack that it was scary. Now, we could go back to the whole theory (MY favorite theory) that they were all recruited for this island. So they may have a profile on all of them due to this. But the autopsy report? How on earth did they get that? And if they already had all of this information, why did Henry want lists? To see who survived? I like to think that the Others aren't really in control on the island either....and perhaps they were SUPPLIED the information from a higher authority.... I'd like to think that the others are just as LOST as the survivors. Juliet said something intriguing to jack with "It doesn't matter who we were, it matters who we are." This was in reference to the Dharma initiative. Have they been there that long to have been apart of DHARMA? And what has happened since then? I'm sure we're going to find out all of these questions.

And the big question....is Juliet playing Jack or can he really trust her? In the eyes of Henry, she's just playing her role as GOOD COP. It's tough to trust any of the others...but she has some likability factor to her that makes you want to. And she finally got through Jack's rough exterior and got him telling the truth. (REPO Man, Jack? nice one) That's a recipe for disaster....and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!

My favorite piece of information that was in Jack's File?: "Sarah is Happy" lol....seriously? What did they do, go up to her and ask her if she's happy? Are they stalking her? Are they just basing it off of the information they have? I dunno....I just found it very humorous that A.) Jack expected them to have that answer and B.) They actually HAD that answer! But it was still a good time.

oooh oooh ooh...I just thought of something. Something I didn't mention in the finale blog. Remember Jack breaking through the wooden door on Desmond's sailboat in the finale with his bare foot? What was that all about? He must have some crazy Karate/Kung Fu skills that we haven't seen yet. And we saw them on display again as he tried to break the glass with his foot in the underwater hatch. I'm guessing this has something to do with him learning poker in Puhket, Thailand......and again....probably where the tatoo came from (even though we do know it's Matthew Fox's actual tatoo...it will be written into the story!)

As you can see, I've overthought the episode like I always do. I'm sure I missed tons of good little tidbits like I always do. And I'll encourage everyone to comment with your thoughts...LIKE I ALWAYS DO! But I really enjoyed this for a season opener. I don't know what the naysayers really expected to find out in the first episode. I think we were given a lot of information to chew on (more than I thought we'd get) and I think plot moved along rather nicely. We have advancements in the Sawyer/Kate Love Saga....and the introduction of the Jack/Juliet/Henry Love triangle. (I don't feel like going back to the top but apparently it was mentioned in the opening that Ben is Juliet's Ex-Husband? I didn't catch that and will watch a 2nd time tonight. Regardless, there does seem to be a history).

Next week we'll continue exploring these stories as we expand to include Sayid and his crew of Sun and Jin who were last seen at the FAKE OTHERS CAMP with Desmond's sailboat. Somehow Sayid, using his military expertise will find out that their friends have been captured. We saw Sun getting shot at and falling into the water....I wonder if this will be the resolution to her pregnancy? Maybe she will miscarry? Who knows...

5 more episodes this Fall....which will end in a big cliffhanger to keep us coming back in January. I have a light spoiler for you all that I will white out below. Just highlight if you want to read!

Apparently another survivor close to us all will meet their demise in this initial pod of episodes. No ideas who it could be at this juncture. And I don't want to know! I don't even know who is expendable at this point! But I just thought I would share

Well that's it! I'll try to add pictures for things if the site becomes available later. But you can always check them for yourself at lost.cubit.net/investigations.php .

Okay, please post comments! I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts and discuss! Welcome back again.....and hope you enjoyed the rusty write-up! See you next week!